Paul says we are not under the law but grace. The Decalogue wasn’t done away with (Matt. 5:17), therefore aren’t we called to keep them?

Let’s start by reading Romans 6:14-15, “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.” The words of the Apostle Paul are crystal clear, “ye are not under the law.” First of all, let’s consider who the law was intended for in the first place. The Lord, in preparing to give Moses the law said in Exodus 19:6, “These are the words which thou shalt speak unto THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL.” The law was given to God’s earthly people, the nation of Israel.

Many people today try to put themselves under the law, but mostly will pick and choose which parts of the law to obey. Remember, the law was extremely strict and goes far beyond just keeping the Decalogue, or the Ten Commandments. We read in James 2:10, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” This is serious. If one truly wants to live under the law, he must keep every single point of the law. If he fails in one aspect, he is guilty of the whole law.

In Galatians, the people there, who were Gentiles, were attempting to live according to the law. Paul told them in Galatians 5:2-4, “Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.” They were practicing circumcision, not for sanitary reasons, but trying to live under the law. So, if they sought to obey the law to gain salvation, then Christ became no effect to them. In this action, they were shunning the benefit of the cross, to try to please God by obeying the law. How that must have been offensive to the Lord to see these people try to live according to the law after He had poured out His wrath on His dear Son to free us from ‘the law of sin and death.’ (Romans 8:2) They had ‘fallen from grace’ or the principle of grace. Grace tells us we are saved. The law only enslaves us.

Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 1:8, “But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully.” So, how do we use the law lawfully? Galatians 3:24 tells us, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” We use the law, the Ten Commandments, to show people their sinful and helpless state so that they might turn to the Lord Jesus and believe on Him for salvation. Let’s also read Galatians 3:25, “But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” Isn’t that plain? Once we put our faith on the Lord Jesus, the need for the law is gone!

What about the Ten Commandments, are we to live according to them? Every one of those commandments are things that are moral, good, and right. Each one of them is important, but not to gain salvation. No, only by faith in the Lord Jesus can we attain salvation. Does that mean that the commandments are wrong and should not be obeyed? God forbid. This is what is sometimes called God’s Moral Law. These commandments say nothing about tithing, the Sabbath, food restrictions, instructions regarding what is to be done if you accidently kill your neighbor’s ox. They deal with the moral aspect of the law. The Lord Himself, put the Ten Commandments into two aspects. He said in Matthew 22:37-39, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” We should absolutely do this. We should love the Lord above all others, and we should greatly love others. But, even the Ten Commandments are very limited. They say nothing about gambling, divorce, homosexuality, or drinking alcohol, etc. We need to read the Word, become knowledge of its precepts and depend upon the Lord to guide us and give us strength to live according to His Word. We should do this because we ARE saved. We do not do this to BECOME saved. (206.4)